Top 10 All Time NFL Defensive Teams

"When I was 10, I entered the NFL Gatorade Punt, Pass, and Kick contest. I came in 48th place. My passing stunk!! I went right home, painted a target on my tree and started throwing. And throwing. And throwing. And throwing." - Dan Marino

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense went into Sunday’s game in Baltimore ranked first in the NFL in every major category.

Sixty minutes later, it had held the Ravens to nine points and had surrendered only 202 yards. Sunday was Pittsburgh’s 14th consecutive game holding an opponent to less than 300 yards, tying the 1973 Rams for the longest such streak to start a season.

Clearly the Steelers have the best defense in the NFL this season. But where do they rank all time? Here’s a look at my top 10.

10. 1990 New York Giants: Like all great defenses, the ’90 Giants were solid against the run and the pass. But they also had the ability to send the great Lawrence Taylor after the quarterback. And Taylor also had the great idea to send female escorts after the quarterback.

9. 1991 Philadelphia Eagles: Reggie White, Jerome Brown and Clyde Simmons led a dominant Eagles defense that for years had been accused of taking bounties on opposing players. The ’91 Eagles went 10-6 but missed the playoffs, and for some reason the defense never thought to take a bounty on Eagles quarterbacks Pat Ryan, Brad Goebel, Jeff Kemp and Jim McMahon.

8. 1973 Miami Dolphins: The Dolphins went undefeated in 1972, but most people forget that in ’73 they won the Super Bowl again and set an NFL record by allowing only 150 points in the entire 14-game season. To this day, they pop champagne any time an NFL team plays its 15th game of the season.

7. 1971 Minnesota Vikings: The motto of The Purple People Eaters was "Meet at the quarterback." Or, wait … maybe it was "Meat at the quarterback." Ahh! Cannibals!

6. 1962 Green Bay Packers: The ’62 Packers’ defense boasted five future Hall of Famers and surrendered just 10.8 points per game -- or four fewer than the 2008 Packers allow per quarter.

5. 1969 Kansas City Chiefs: Hank Stram’s "triple stack" defense allowed an average of less than two touchdowns per game in 1969 and gave up only 20 points on the way to victory in Super Bowl IV. Since then, other teams have used players who are big proponents of the Triple Stack, but to less success.

4. 2000 Baltimore Ravens: Ray Lewis and Rod Woodson led a defense that allowed the fewest points and rushing yards in NFL history during a 16-game season. So overwhelming and intimidating was the presence of the Ravens’ defense that it often managed to keep its own offense scoreless, too.

3. 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers: The Steelers have the No. 1-ranked defense in the NFL this season across the board. But they need their own nickname. "The Steel Curtain" was the ’70s Steelers. Using it again is like being a cover band. Or even worse: a cover band of a hair band.

2. 1985 Chicago Bears: The Mike Singletary-led defense didn’t give up a point in the playoffs until surrendering 10 in a 46-10 victory over the Patriots in the Super Bowl, exposing every opponent’s weaknesses along the way. Who knows how many opposing coaches that team caused to drop their pants?

1. 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers: Pittsburgh had great defenses throughout the ’70s. But the ’76 squad was the best, surrendering only 28 points in the final nine games of the season. If only the Three Rivers Stadium security was as tough to breach back then. Arrest that kid! He is in a players-only area!

Source: ESPN Sports

Bradford wins Heisman Trophy

NEW YORK – The first person to congratulate Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford was the player who won it last year — Tim Tebow.

The star quarterbacks from the top two teams in the country shook hands Saturday night, then embraced.

On Jan. 8, with the national championship on the line, it won’t be so cordial.

Bradford, Oklahoma’s amazingly accurate and quick-thinking passer, won the Heisman after leading the highest-scoring team in major college history to the BCS title game.

A year after Tebow was the first sophomore to win the Heisman, Bradford became the second and kept the Florida star from joining Archie Griffin as the only two-time winners.

Bradford and Tebow will soon meet again, when the No. 2 Sooners (12-1) face No. 1 Gators (12-1) in Miami.

"We’re ready to get back to work to get ready for the 8th," Bradford said. "When we started this season, winning the national championship was the first goal we put down as a team."

Next month’s game between Oklahoma and Florida marks the second time Heisman winners will play against each other. The first was in the 2005 Orange Bowl, when ’04 winner Matt Leinart and Southern California beat ’03 winner Jason White and Oklahoma for the national title.

Bradford, who leads the nation in touchdown passes with 48, received 1,726 points. Texas quarterback Colt McCoy was second with 1,604 and Tebow — who received the most first-place votes — was third with 1,575 points.

"I was definitely surprised and I think it’s everything I imagined," said Bradford, who raised the 25-pound bronze statue with his left hand still in a cast from a recent surgery. "I think it will take a couple weeks to set in."

Bradford got 300 first-place votes, McCoy 266 and Tebow 309. Not since 1956 had a player drawn the most first-place votes and finished third; Tommy McDonald of Oklahoma holds that distinction.

Bradford was the third person to win without receiving the most first-place votes, joining Notre Dame’s Paul Hornung in ’56 and Oklahoma’s Billy Sims in 1978.

Any consolation, Tim?

"Not really," he said with a smile. "You lose, you lose.

"We still get to play in January and decide something a little bit bigger."

It was the closest margin between the top two since Nebraska’s Eric Crouch edged Florida’s Rex Grossman by 62 points in 2001. The only other time the gap between first and third was smaller was also ’01, when Miami’s Ken Dorsey was 142 points behind Crouch.

"Now I know what it’s like for those people on ’American Idol,’" McCoy said. "My heart was pounding."

The award ceremony was held at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square. When it was over, the finalists were whisked downtown with a police escort, about 50 blocks to the Sports Museum of America in lower Manhattan for a news conference.

"I was really nervous," Bradford said during his news conference. "I’d much rather play in front of 100,000 people than wait for an award to be handed out."

The Big 12 South was the epicenter of college football this season, with both the national championship race and Heisman chase turning weekly on games played by its three powerhouse teams.

McCoy was the early Heisman front-runner after leading the Longhorns to the No. 1 ranking with a victory against Oklahoma in October. Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell, who finished a distant fourth in Heisman voting, then moved to the forefront after he tossed a last-second, game-winning touchdown pass to beat Texas a month later.

But Bradford closed strongest, leading his team to a string of blowout victories, including one against Texas Tech, and a spot — even if it was somewhat controversial — in the BCS title game.

Bradford leads the nation in passer rating (186.3) and has thrown for 4,464 yards, directing the Sooners’ fast-paced, no-huddle offense.

Oklahoma has already racked up 702 points to blow past the record of 656 set by Hawaii in 2006, and last week the Sooners became the first major college team in 89 years to score at least 60 in five straight games.

"This is an individual award but I feel like I’m receiving it on behalf of my teammates," Bradford said during his acceptance speech. "I feel like our whole offense bails me out every game. They make me look good."

Bradford is the fifth Oklahoma player to win the award, and second during coach Bob Stoops’ 10 seasons with the Sooners. Bradford matched White by taking home college football’s most famous bronze statue. Next he’d like to join Josh Heupel, his position coach and a Heisman runner-up, who quarterbacked OU to the 2000 national title.

"You were one of my heroes growing up," Bradford told Heupel.

Oklahoma has never won a national title and a Heisman Trophy in the same season.

While no match for Tebow and McCoy as a runner, Bradford’s Heisman moment came on a scramble against Oklahoma State in the regular-season finale. He sprinted away from pressure, turned up the sideline and about 5 yards from the end zone tried to vault headfirst to the goal line. Bradford got hit and flipped, arms and legs whipping around, and landed hard out of bounds, but popped right up. On the next play, he sneaked into the end zone from a yard out.

He came out of that game with an injured non-throwing hand. The cast will be off well before the game against Florida.

The winner that night in Miami gets the biggest prize of all.

Source: AP